In recent years, research and development of organic electroluminescent elements making use of electroluminescence of organic materials have progressed. The organic electroluminescent elements are highly visible due to their self-luminescence properties, and are superbly resistant to shocks due to their complete solid-state structure. As such, the organic electroluminescent elements are attracting attention as light-emitting elements and light sources for use in various display devices.
An organic electroluminescent element includes one or more organic functional layers between an upper electrode and a lower electrode, and is manufactured by sequentially stacking the lower electrode, the one or more organic functional layers, and the upper electrode by a method such as vapor deposition and sputtering (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).